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Optical SETI with Air Cerenkov Telescopes

David Eichler·Gregory Beskin
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Abstract

We propose using large Air Cerenkov Telescopes (ACT's) to search for optical, pulsed signals from extra-terrestrial intelligence. Such dishes collect tens of photons from a nanosecond-scale pulse of isotropic equivalent power of tens of solar luminosities at a distance of 100 pc. The field of view for giant ACT's can be on the order of ten square degrees, and they will be able to monitor 10 to 10$^2$ stars simultaneously for nanosecond pulses of about 6th mag or brighter. Using the Earth's diameter as a baseline, orbital motion of the planet could be detected by timing the pulse arrival times.

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David Eichler, Gregory Beskin. 2001-11-05. Optical SETI with Air Cerenkov Telescopes. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0111081

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